9 Ways To Bring More Joy To Your Photography

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My wife and business partner Arduina’s enthusiasm is intoxicating.

So I asked her to share a little of it with you.

Here are her 9 Ways To Bring More Joy To Your Photography.

1. PLAY!

Give yourself the gift of playtime. Try new things without judgement. Make a portrait of your neighbor, or your neighbors peacocks. Make a self portrait holding your most prized possession. Arrange a still life from your junk drawer. Try abstraction. Go underwater or book yourself a hot air ballon and try areal photography. Ask a friend to drive you around. My husband will sweetly slow the car down to help me make an image of a fox in a field or a goat on the roof of a shed. Try motion blur, long exposers  or double exposures. Shoot with different lenses and cameras; try a 400mm lens with a doubler or a macro; play with plastic lenses or a Holga; or use a scanner as your camera. In order to get the most joy from playtime all you have to do you have to make time for play. I think of it as a healthy form of self care – if you can spend an hour on a treadmill you can spare a few minutes to photograph your favorite tree.

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2. Experience A Different Time Of Day

Be amazed by magic light! Drag your sleepy head out of bed and watch as the dawn moves across your windows or play in the dappled light under a canopy of trees at mid day.

3. See What Your Eyes Can’t

Get yourself  a tripod and shoot after dark. You could even use an intervalometer  to make a time-lapse of yourself while you sleep and you may solve the mystery of who has been stealing the covers.

4. Explore

Wander about and  catch yourself in a smile. Notice what you notice and make a record of what resonates. Photographer Keith Carter says, “Time spent in reconnoissance is never time wasted.”  Time enjoyed is never wasted, whether you make a picture right then or return later with a wagon full of birdcages and clocks.

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5. Be Inspired By Your Favorite Song Writer Or Poet

Pay homage to the song that got you through a bad break up or spend some time with  Mary Oliver as she tirelessly guides you through the natural world.

6. Put Yourself In Someone Else’s Shoes

Try on a different point of view. Find happiness in shooting a scene while lying on your belly or standing on your tippy toes with your arms stretched up overhead. Any advice involving shoes makes me happy …

7. Lighten Up

Ditch your inner critic. Just because Edward Weston made an Iconic picture of a bell pepper doesn’t mean that you can never photograph a pepper. Just make pictures. In fact the one most people think of is entitled “Pepper No. 30”  but he must have had an amazing time playing with creepy pepper #14.

8. Learn To Composite

So what if that cloud was in San Francisco and that ocean is in Maine ? Perhaps they would like to meet in a photograph?

9. Make A Print

Hold the joy you have experienced in your hands! Put it on your wall. Glue it in a book. Or mail it to your mother-in-law to thank her for loving you. I make my prints on an Epson printer – and I am deeply in love with that part of my process – but a print in any form (Cibachrome, cyanotype, or collodion) anything with three-dimensions is joyful to me!

View Ardie’s photographs on Instagram.

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Photographers On Photography – Videos

 

It’s insightful to learn about and from the photographers who make the classic photographs.

Here’s a collection of videos on photographers that I’ve enjoyed most.

You’ll find them inspiring!

Where do I recommend you start? With the classics – in red.

 

Sam Abell | View 

Ansel Adams | View 1 View 2 | View 3 | View 4

Robert Adams | View

Diane Arbus| View

Richard Avedon | View

James Balog | View 1 View 2 | View 3

Richard Benson | View

Ruth Bernhard View

Yann Arthus-Bertrand | View

Phil Borges | View

Bill Brandt | View

Chris Burkett | View

Edward Burtinsky | View

John Paul Caponigro | View

Paul Caponigro | View

Harry Callahan | View

Keith Carter | View

Henri Cartier-Bresson  | View 1 | View 2  | View 3  | View 4  | View 5

Chuck Close| View

Anton Corbijn | View

Gregory Crewdson| View

Bruce Davidson | View

William Eggleston | View 1 View 2

Alfred Eisendstaedt | View

Walker Evans | View

Andreas Feininger | View

Robert Frank | View

Adam Fuss | View

Ralph Gibson | View

Laura Gilpin | View

Nan Goldin | View

Emmet Gowin | View

Lauren Greenfield | View

Lois Greenfield | View

Gregory Heisler | View 1 | View 2

David Hockney | View 1 | View 2 | View 3

Kenro Izu | View

Chris James View

Bill Jay | View

Chris Jordan | View

Ed Kashi | View

Michael Kenna | View

Sean Kernan | View

Andre Kertesz | View

David LaChapelle | View 

Frans Lanting | View

Jacques-Henri Lartigue | View

Annie Leibovitz | View 1 | View 2

Jay Maisel | View 1 | View 2

Sally Mann | View 1 | View 2 | View 3

Arthur Meyerson View 1 | View 2

Eric Meola | View

Duane Michals | View 1  View 2

Mary Ellen Mark | View

Steve McCurry | View

Joe McNally | View

Joel Meyerowitz | View

Richard Misrach |  View

Cristina Mittermeier |  View

Tina Modotti | View

Sarah Moon | View

Edward Muybridge | View

James Nachtwey | View

Arnold Newman | View

Helmut Newton | View

Elizabeth Opalenik | View

Gordon Parks| View

Martin Parr | View

Eliot Porter | View

Chris Rainier | View 1 | View 2

Eugene Richards | View

Sebastiao Salgado | View 1 View 2

John Sexton | View 1 | View 2

Cindy Sherman | View

Stephen Shore | View

Aaron Siskind | View

Eugene Smith | View

Rick Smolan | View

Fredrick Sommer | View

Edward Steichen | View

Alfred Stieglitz | View 

Paul Strand | View

Jock Sturges | View

Hiroshi Sugimoto | View

John Szarkowski | View

Joyce Tenneson | View 1 | View 2

Pete Turner | View

Jerry Uelsmann | View

Nick Veasey | View

Jeff Wall | View

Andy Warhol View

Weegee | View

Edward Weston | View

Kim Weston | View

Garry Winogrand | View

Dan Winters | View

Huntington Witherill | View 1 View 2

Art Wolfe | View

 

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Photographers on Photography – Quotes

 

We can all learn a lot from the photographers who make the classic photographs.

Here’s a list of links to collections of my favorite quotes by master photographers.

You’ll find them inspiring!

Sam Abell

Berenice Abbott

Ansel Adams

Robert Adams

Diane Arbus

Richard Avedon

Richard Benson

Ruth Bernhard

Bill Brandt

Christopher Burkett

Harry Callahan

Julia Margaret Cameron

Keith Carter

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Chuck Close

Wynn Bullock

Edward Burtynsky

John Paul Caponigro

Paul Caponigro

Harold Edgerton

William Eggleston

Alfred Eisendstadt

Elliot Erwitt

Walker Evans

Andreas Feininger

Robert Frank

Lee Friedlander

Adam Fuss

Emmet Gowin

Ernst Haas

Gregory Heisler

Kenro Izu

Stephen Johnson

Michael Kenna

Andre Kertesz

Josef Koudelka

David La Chapelle

Jacques-Henri Lartigue

Annie Liebovitz

Jay Maisel

Sally Mann

Robert Mapplethorpe

Joel Meyerowitz

Arthur Meyerson

Duane Michals

Richard Misrach

James Nachtwey

Olivia Parker

Irving Penn

John Pfahl

Eliot Porter

Chis Rainier

Sebastiao Salgado

John Sexton

Cindy Sherman

Stephen Shore

Aaron Siskind

W Eugene Smith

Fredrick Sommer

Edward Steichen

Alfred Steiglitz

Paul Strand

Jock Sturges

Hiroshi Sugimoto

Joyce Tenneson

George Tice

Jerry Uelsmann

Andy Warhol

Edward Weston

Weegee

Minor White

Gary Winogrand

 

Photographers pick their favorite quotes by other photographers.

 

John Paul Caponigro

Sean Duggan

David DuChemin

Mac Holbert

Sean Kernan

Jay Maisel

Eric Meola

Arthur Meyerson

Chris Orwig

Seth Resnick

John Sexton

Joyce Tenneson

Vincent Versace

Huntington Witherill

 

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Photographers On Photography – Conversations

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I have been fortunate to have had a number of wonderful conversations with many remarkable photographers. As a peer, I share a common experience and speak a common language that many people who speak with artists do not and this is reflected in the kinds of questions and answers that guide our way deeper into seeing.

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Photographers

Amy Arbus
Richard Barnes
Richard Benson
Barbara Bordnick
Gary Braasch
Christopher Burkett
Harry Callahan
John Paul Caponigro
Paul Caponigro
Keith Carter
Brad Cole
Tillman Crane
Robert Farber
Lee Friedlander
Adam Fuss
John Goodman
Emmet Gowin
R Mac Holbert
Ryszard Horowitz
Jim Hughes
Gordon Hutchings
Kenro Izu
Christopher James
Stephen Johnson
Michael Kenna
Sean Kernan
Julieanne Kost
Eric Meola
Arthur Meyerson
Richard Misrach
James Nachtwey
Elizabeth Opalenik
Olivia Parker
Moose Peterson
Chris Rainier
Edward Ranney
John Reuter
John Sexton
Craig Stevens
Jock Sturges
Joyce Tenneson
George Tice
Jerry Uelsmann
Cole Weston
Huntington Witherill

Video Conversations

Sean Duggan
Steve Johnson
Sean Kernan
Arthur Meyerson
John Sexton
Joyce Tenneson
Huntington Witherill

 

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Photographers On Photography – Q&A

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Photographers answer 20 questions.
10 Core Questions
10 Optional Questions
Answers are kept short and sweet.

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Core Questions

What’s the best thing about photography?
What’s the worst thing about photography?

What’s the thing that interests you most about photography?
What’s the thing that interests you most about your own photographs?
What’s the thing that interests you most about other people’s photographs?

Who were your early photographic influences?
Who are your photographic influences now?
Who were your early non-photographic influences?
Who are your non-photographic influences now?
What’s the most inspiring work of art you saw recently?

What’s the best thing about gear?
What’s the worst thing about gear?

How do you know when an image doesn’t work?
How do you know when an image is good?
How do you know when an image is great?

What’s the most useful photographic mantra?

Do you practice another art form? (If so, which?)
What benefits do you get from (this/these) other art form/s?

What was the most significant visual moment in your life?
Which was the most important image to you that got away?
What failure did you learn the most from?

What accomplishment are you most proud of?
What’s the thing you most hope to accomplish?

If you had to do it all over again, what would you change?
If you had another life to live a completely different life, what would you choose to do?

What are the most important questions to you?

Optional Questions

What’s photography really all about?

How did photography change the world?
How did photography change your world?

Who were the most important photographers?
Who are the most important photographers working today?

What’s the best thing about influence?
What’s the worst thing about influence?

What’s the best thing about our times?
What’s the worst thing about our times is?

What keeps you up at night?
What gets you going in the morning?

What’s your favorite movie?
What’s your favorite book?
What’s your favorite piece of music?

What’s your idea of perfect happiness?
What is your greatest fear?
Which historical figure do you most identify with?
Who is your favorite hero in fiction?
Who are your heroes in real life?
Which living person do you most admire?
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
What is your greatest extravagance?
What is your favorite journey?
On what occasion do you lie?
What do you dislike most about yourself?
What is your most marked characteristic?
Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
What is your greatest regret?
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
What’s your most treasured possession?
What is your favorite occupation / past time?
What do you most value in your friends?
What’s your motto?
What other talent would you most like to have?
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
What is it that you most dislike?
How would you like to die?

 

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Maine Destinations To Photograph

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Get this ebook free.

 

From the solitary summit of Katahdin, to the deeps of more than 22,000 lakes and ponds, to the 3,500 miles of tidal coastline, the wild beauty of Maine is irresistibly beautiful. Inland you’ll find sweeping mountains, rivers, lakes, forests, and farms. Along the rocky coast, you’ll find countless islands, beaches, lighthouses, and fishing villages.

This ebook collects images of Maine made in the locations that I have returned to photograph most often for more than 25 years.

Each image is accompanied by a short description of the location.

Interactive links access Google Maps and additional resources.

This valuable resource will help you make the most of your explorations of Maine.

22 images

22 pages

 

Find my Maine workshops here.